The reaver
by Mike bent tone
Summary: What is a Reaver? according to the one the wastlanders call Threedog, it is a lier a killer and a monster. But to a Reaver himself, it is just another man trying to make it in the wastland... rated T though that may change. read and review please.
1. The reaver's legacy

_Authors note: I've been trying to write a fan fiction for a while now, damn writer's block I guess. This is my first one so bare with me. Reviews are appreciated._

He'd been called a lot of things during his years in the wastes. An assassin, a mercenary, a loner, some had even gone as far as to call him Scourge of the Wastes. But one name had stuck out among the others, Reaver. He had been in underworld that day, the ninth circle, his usual place in the corner, a bottle of whiskey resting in front of him. A radio had been placed on the bar as well, playing what little music remained from before the Great War and stopping occasionally so that the host could voice his opinions on various subjects. Reaver had rarely listened to the drabble of the one the wastlanders called three dog, partially because he spent a lot of time in the wastes and therefore away from any working radios, and partially because he didn't give half a damn about what the man had to say. But on this occasion he had been somewhat intrigued. A difficult task when it came to Reaver, as his only interests nowadays involved caps and liquor, a rather ironic combination as the later seemed to eat up the first one as fast as he made it. Three Dog had spoken about few interesting topics that day, continued loss of contact with Grayditch, the 'ghouls are people too' lecture. It was the same bullshit that he always went on about, but Reaver became interested when Thee Dog began speaking about a recent killing in rivet city.

"Question time, kids. You know what a Reaver is? It's a killer, a liar, and a monster. Check it out, apparently the poor guy from rivet city, Ted Strayer, has just left us courtesy of a .308 right through the skull. His body was found by a terrified Mr. Lopez, who said on the wall, written in blood was, _you gotta shoot em in the head. _The slogan we have been seeing lately with the recent killings of the one known as Dukov and his two party girls. Whoever been doing this, this, this Reaver, he must be stopped for the good of the wastlanders." Then he paused for a moment before bellowing, "This is three dog ooooooooow! And you're listenin to galaxy news radio, until next time!"

Reaver didn't argue with Three Dogs description of him. He did kill, he lied so that he could kill, and to make it in his line of work one had to be a monster. However He didn't see himself as evil for killing ted, He probably would have done it for free simply because the kid was a waste of breath and psycho. Every day Ted would lounge around the market or bar of his home, rivet city, that smug look of utter carelessness that was rare if not absent in the wastes. His pockets lined with the thousands of caps he hadn't earned. He was a waste of oxygen and now his brains were being scraped off the walls of the common room where he would pass out every night. Good riddance to the freeloader.

Ever since then He had been known as Reaver, or the Reaver. He didn't care which one. Whenever someone needed someone else dead, and none of the amateurs at Talon Company could help, they would find him. His price was high but his clients didn't regret there deal, unless they turned on him in which case there head wound up on a pike outside one of Reaver's safe houses as a warning to other scumbags who would dare cross him. In almost cases though, Reaver would get his caps and the client would get one less enemy to worry about. A good trade in his book.

He had been in Underworld that evening but now he stood outside the rundown house he had taken shelter in the night before. Two things were on his mind that morning, a job and a drink, and he knew were to get them. A few miles to the south was Tenpenny tower. Despite his track record as a gun for hire Reaver's travels had never brought him to Tenpenny's doorstep. A strange fact as Reaver had heard much about the place. Apparently it was lined with all sorts of luxurious pre war stuff. And everyone inside was said to have more caps then they knew what to do with. Of course with money came greed and with greed came more money, for Reaver, at least when one greedy basterd wants another greedy basterd dead for whatever reason. So it was easy to question the fact that Reaver had never been there to get in on the action. Hell maybe after couple jobs there he could buy a suite and retire. Reaver knew that wasn't gonna happen though. his parents had tried to keep him locked up in one place, never to explore the wasteland and make his own living, and He had made it out of there by the age of 19, but Reaver had put aside his childhood. It meant nothing to him, just a dark stain on his past that must be forgotten.

Reaver popped the choler on his duster and began walking towards his destination.

_That's the first chapter! I know its short, hope you liked it. Post a review._


	2. A fragile allience

_Alright got the second chapter done, though I don't know if anyone cares because no ones posted a fregen review yet. Any way hope you like it._

Reaver dropped his bag and sat down on an overturned tree trunk. It had been a hard day, two molerats had attacked him, along with four raiders and a vicious dog, and he had dropped fifty caps buying stimpacks and ammo from a traveling merchant he had come across. Tenpenny tower was a mere afternoons hike away give or take an hour. But darkness had long since begun to descend on the capital wasteland and at night, the world became an even more unforgiving place. Though Reaver was usually the hunter, it was times like this when he would become the hunted. Raiders and slavers would stalk the plains, searching for things to shoot, steal, or enslave, and this wasn't to mention the ambushes from Talon Company and the Regulators that had become somewhat frequent. Also, Reaver hadn't slept in at least two days, and he wasn't planning on becoming a rotted corpse because of dimmed senses.

Reaver some twigs into a pile in front of him then reached into his bag and grabbed the first piece of food he found, a bramin steak. Good food, the radiation didn't effect its taste as much as the other stuff did, which was strange because it came from a mutated cow. Next Reaver pulled a match from his jacket pocket, struck it on the side of his boot, and through it onto the twigs. within minutes he had a decent fire going and he began cooking the steak.

As he finished hanging the meat over the fire, Reaver took a cigarette from behind his ear and lit it with another match. As the exhaled the smoke, he drifted off into his thoughts.

The sound of rustling bushes broke Reaver away from his concentration. Grabbing the pistol on his right thigh, He stood up, turned and aimed at the source of the sound, but found nothing. Reaver lowered the weapon and sat back down, only to be alerted again by the crunching of rocks. Reaver was going to stand again but suddenly a voice from behind stopped him.

"Don't even think about it pal." The voice was deep and grovily, the kind of voice you would expect a villian without any trace of humanity left inside of him to have.

Reaver spat out the cigarette. "Regulator or Talon Company." He didn't turn as he spoke.

A chuckle escaped the mans lips. "Talon company, Impressive that you narrowed it down to two factions if I might say so."

"Good to see someone with abit of respect left in the world."

The man chuckled louder this time. "Hey man just because I'm about to kill you don't mean Im gonna be a prick about it."

Reaver decided not to waste any more time with the merc's idle small talk. "How many with you."

"Just me, your the best at what you do, seems fitting they would send someone equally as skilled to kill you."

this time it was Reavers turn to chuckle. "Then I guess the guy hiding in the bushes you didnt notice is a regulator."

"Wh-" a sound of quick footsteps alerted Reaver that the Talon company merc was moving, darting around to take a shot at the bushes no doubt. "Wait a seccond Im not falling for that!" He said much to Reaver's surprise.

"Should of heeded his warning there pal." Came a new voice.

still looking away, Reaver smiled. "I had assumed he was with you, shame, woulda told you about it if I knew."

The merc stomped his foot in frustration "Shit... Shoulda fucking known they'd send a cowboy after me."

Seeing an opportunity, Reaver stood up and drew his own weapon, a 44. pistol.

"Hold it there pal." The Regulator barked sharply as he switched his target from the merc to Reaver. "Relinquish your firearm, throw it over."

Reaver scowled and raised the pistol so it was trained directly at the regulator. "Ill relinquish one bullet asshole, were do you want it?"

As the regulator gave him a threatening look, Reaver examined both men. Both had weapons drawn, the merc toting a combat shotgun, the Regulator, a Chinese assault rifle. The regulators weapon was trained at the back of the merc's head again, the merc's was pointed from the hip at Reaver, and they both wore the standard gear of there respectable factions. Black combat armor for the Merc, green duster for the regulator.

There was a silence that seemed to last for hours until the regulator finally spoke.

"No ones gonna come out of this victorious if we just shoot each other full of holes," said the regulator. "We all have guns on each other, if someone pulls the trigger, someone else will, causing a chain reaction that results in three corpses hitting the ground. I say we negotiate."

Reaver considered the regulators proposal, and came to the conclusion that he was right.

"Fuck that!" snapped the merc as he switched from Reaver to the regulator. "I go back to my boss without this guys head and it'll be MY head!"

Reaver pointed his gun at the merc. "you can die there or you can take your chances here. and I assure you the latter will be alot less painful."

Reaver had heard stories about how talon company deals with failures, not the kind of stories you would read to your kids at night.

"Alright, slowly," said the regulator. "Were gonna put our guns down."ok?"

There was a tence pause as each man checked to make sure the others would comply, and then each nodded as a sign of agreement. Slowly they lowered there weapons and placed them on the ground.

another five seconds passed and Reaver spoke. "I'm Reaver, but I guess you already knew that though."

"Jericho," Grunted the merc.

"I'm Lance." The regulator said. "Its a pleasure to meet you all."

Reaver didn't know why, but he liked this Regulator. He was different from all the other self ritchous bustards that took shots at him daily. "Well, as long as were in this cease fire, you might as well join me for supper."

Lance chuckled. "Well don't mind if I do." Lance was obviously very laid back. a trait which could be a gift or a curse.

Jericho on the other hand was more hesitant, he stood still, an untrusting look on his face.

"Believe me Jericho, killing you is of little benefit to me. 44.'s cost caps." Said Reaver as he sat back down.

there was a pause, "I Guess so." Jericho replied as he slowly walked over and took a seat.

Reaver took the steak down and cut it into three pieces with a combat knife he had in his boot. "hope you like bramin." He said as he through a piece to each man.

"Thanks." said Lance as he examined the meat, obviusly checked it for poison. Not finding any impurities, Lance took a bite. "Good, stuff." he said as he finished chewing.

As the men ate there dinner, they exchanged stories.

Jericho scoffed down the last of the meat and still chewing began to speak. "I grew up in paradise falls."

"As a slave?" Lance asked as he took a bite from his food.

"Fuck no. I was a slavers kid. Left there when I was err" He stuttered for a moment "fifteen, yea that's it fifteen. Anyway I spent some time with the raiders, robbed a couple trade caravans, raided a few settlements. Then I ditched those armatures and found Talon company. Been with them ever since." Jericho looked over at Reaver. "What about you? they didn't have much info in your file, your like a freaking ghost man."

"My story isn't important, lets here Lances." Reaver nodded at Lance and took another bite of food.

"I was born in the wastes," said the Lance as he finished his meal. "Cant remember what happened to my parents, I assume there dead, raiders or something I don't know. All I remember is spending my life wandering from town to town. Spent a couple years in megaton when I was twenty two. But left when I killed a guy in a bar fight at moriarty's. So I roamed for a while till I found the regulators." He pointed to the Regulator insignia sown onto his duster. "I couldn't give less of a damn about there cause though, but they do pay well. they said they'd give me 2000 caps for taking you down." He motioned to Reaver. "Nothing personal, gotta eat." he chucked lightly and began drinking from a bottle of water.

"Guess your gonna go hungry then." said Reaver through a slight smirk.

"Not exactly," his smile disappeared. "They say thell pay fifty for anyone wearing a talon company uniform." Suddenly a pistol emerged from Lances duster and was trained on Jericho.

"Fucking hell!" Jericho almost fell off his chair in surprise.

Lance pulled back the lever and placed his finger on the trigger. "sorry there pal, gotta eat right?"

Jericho raised his hand in surrender but to no avail. Lance pulled the trigger and sent the merc to the ground. blood began seeping from the hole in his head as he twitched.

Lance turned back and coolly took a sip of water.

Reaver was silent. He had seen men killed by other men, but Lance did it without emotion, without regret. It was disturbing in a way that he had not seen. Suddenly Reaver noticed that his jaw was open, not wanting to look weak in the eyes on the man sent to kill him, he began speaking in a calm tone.

"Was that really necessary?" Reaver asked as he stared at the corpse.

"You need caps to survive out here. you of all people should know that."

"I guess."

"anyway, you seem like an alright guy so I'm gonna make you a little proposition." Lance leaned in towards Reaver.

"And what would that be?" Reaver asked.

"I know were your going Reaver, Iv been following you for a while now."

"And were would I be going?" Reaver replied, intrigued.

"Tenpenny tower, looking for some rich folk who would be interested in your services." He said.

Reaver was impressed. how this guy found out were he was going, and why he was going there was beyond him. "If your going to say something say it."

A smile covered his face. "I'll get the regulators off your back, and get you into Tenpenny tower, if you let me join you."

Reaver laughed, "What use could you possibly be to me?"

"Well, for one, the elitist fuckers at Tenpenny tower aren't just gonna let you stroll in, no unless you have someone who can persuade them to let you, sorry us poke around a bit. I can do that for you."

"How?"

"Let's just say I have a way with words." Lance paused a moment as if he were finished, but a displeased look from Reaver caused him to continue. "Look, when it comes to contracts with me, people say the'll pay five hundred for a corpse, and they end up paying eight."

"I see." Reaver rubbed his light stubble. "So what you're saying is you can get me more caps from my customers?"

"What I'm saying is your pockets are gonna be lined with caps and you're not gonna have people like me taking shots at you." Lance stood up and held out his hand to Reaver. "So do we have a deal?" a slight pause. "Partner?"

Reaver hesitated; he hated working with other people. He had tried working with a partner on a couple jobs, but they had all just slowed him down. However, more caps in his pockets and less people shooting at him sounded appealing Reaver. Standing up, he took Lances hand and shook it firmly. "Deal partner."  
_

_The plot thickens!, an uneasy alliance between two professional killers! Post a review, If you liked it great but if you didn't don't be abusive. I don't mind constructive criticism but insults won't be tolerated._


	3. A new life

The vault door rattled in its frame before retracting in a cloud of steam. The massive weight of the steel vault sent vibrations through the floor were it could be felt by the two vault dwellers at the opposing side of the room.

The vault dweller on the left was named Amata, on the right another named Eva. Amata stared at the door as it rotated to the side to expose a dark tunnel to the outside. "Eva, I cant beleive it..." She turned to look at her life long friend. "I just-"

"Neither can I Amata." interrupted the other. "I always," there was a pause as the girl recovered from the sheer shock of the moment. "I always wanted to get out of here, you know, like Dante. I guess I got my wish." Eva felt slight sadness as she remembered Dante, another one of her childhood friends who escaped several years before. Eva looked over at Amata.

Amata's eyes began to fill with tears as she no doubt had compared that loss of a friend to the current one. She turned away from Eva in an attempt to hide her saddness, "I hope you find your father. I know you need to, I just wish you didnt have to go."

Eva was glad that Amata had turned away, as her eyes had begun to tear also. "Me to, I guess Im gonna kind miss it here. But I promise Ill try to return one day."

Amata chuckled abit. She knew that was impossible, Eva knew it to, but Amata felt slightly better with that promise, even if it was a lie. "I know you will." Amata replyed as she let go of the doubts in exchange for an attempt at opptimism.

Eva turned and hugged Amata. It would be the last bit of effection that the two would share.

"Goodby Eva, Im sorry..." Amata shed another tear and squezed tighter.

"Its ok Amata, its not your fault. This was bound to happen, that door couldnt stay shut forever, eventualy we all have to find our own way." Eva attempted a smile as she always had in hard situations, but in a way she wished the vault could stay closed, that evreything would just go back to normal and she could stay with her friend. But that was all gone now, no more innocence would behold her from now on, only a harsh life in the wastes. Eva dreaded what lay outside, but not as much as she dreaded leaving her old life behind.

The two were broken apart by the sounds of yelling and banging from the metal door behind them. "She's trying to leave the vault! stop her!"

Eva placed her hand on the .10 pistol at her side. "I guess... I guess I should get going before they get in."

There was a pause as Amata took a deep breath. "You're right, good luck, And Eva."

"Yes Amata?"

Amata paused a moment as another tear rolled down her cheek. "If you find Dante out there, tell him... Tell him we, no that I missed him."

"I will, I promise"

As the guards at the door began to yell again, Amata gave Eva a silent nod and stepped over to the control pannel. Hessitently, Eva walked down the metal steps and stepped over the vault door's frame. Turning around she saw Amata at the doors controls. Amata waved before pressing one of the pannels button's with her open hand.

The Vault's Opening mechanism reversed and the giant steel Door began to close. On one side total shelter on innocence, the other pain and hardship.

As the vault closed with a loud creak. Eva sighed and walked towards the wooden door at the end of the tunnel. There was no turning back now.


	4. A change in plans

Ok, fourth chapter up. first off, the talon company merc wasnt supposed to be jericho from megaton but I hadent planned on using him so beleive that if you want. sorry this took a while, I wrote like three others but they werent good enough.

Thanks for all the comments be sure to submit one when you finnish the chapter.

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"Something green." Reaver took a drag from his ciggerete and looked over at his new partner.

Lance scratched his head. "That irradiated puddle we just passed."

"god dammit." Reaver sighed and began looking around for another idea. Games were unfamilier with him, but he figured if he was going to work with this guy they would have to be at least a little friendly with each other. They had been walking for about an hour now, the first half filled with uncomftorbale silence, the second with this trivial game which Reaver had played during his childhood. "Something brown."

"oooh thats a harder one." Lance took a look around. "its not the ground?"

"No." Reaver looked down, the dirt they stood on was hardly brown, more grey than anything else.

"Then it must be that bombed out house over there." Lance stuck out his arm towards the mangled wood of a ruined pre war house.

"You have got to be fucking with me." Reaver took another drag from his ciggerete. "alright if your so good at this then you think of one."

"Verry well." Lance rubbed his chin before smiling. "I got it, something red."

Reaver took a look around. "Shit, you know what screw this."

"Not one for games are we?" Lance laughed but abrubtly stopped as Reaver gave him a distatfull scowl. Lance decided to change the subgect and diverted his attention to the sky. "its getting dark, we should find shelter for the night."

Pre war houses were a luxury in the wastland. Most were destroyed by the bombs during the great war and others simply degraded over time. But few still remained. It was in one of these houses where Reaver and Lance had spent the night and now planned their travels.

"So your saying we shouldnt go to tennpeny tower?" Reaver asked as he examined the map Lance had placed on the kitchen table before him.

"Yes, there's some better stuff down in rivet city." Lance said as he pointed to the south east corner of the map.

Reaver took a cigarette from his coat pocket. "What do you mean better stuff?" He asked as he patted his jacket looking for a match.

"Take your pick, booze, chems... whores."

"Hardly my point of interest, Lance." Reaver said. "What about jobs?"

"plenty of those too." He said as he looked up from the map. "Although the way you'v been lately I would recommend the booze, chems and-"

"Enough Lance."

"Fine, fine." Lance raised his hands in surrender before pointing to a spot on the lower part of the map. "Anyway, were here, so it should take us about two days to get there. How are we doing for supplies." He motioned to the bag resting next to Reaver.

Reaver hesitated. "Lance, I've been meaning to ask, how exactly do I know you're not luring me into a trap?" He narrowed his eyes.

Lance laughed. "Reaver I'm hurt, why would I betray you?"

"2000 caps from the regulators, all my equipment, bragging rights."

There was a pause. "Believe me Reaver. You're much more valuable to me as a partner than a corpse."

"I'm flattered." Reaver replied sarcastically. Despite Lance's statement, Reaver was still unsure of his trust.

"Anyway, about the supplies." Lance asked as if Reaver hadn't questioned his loyalty at all.

"Right," Reaver reached to his side and grabbed the bag and dumped the contents onto the table. Various foods fell out along with a carton of .44's, two bottles of water and a pack of matches. Reaver grabbed one of the matches and lit his cigarette. "Think that'll get us there?"

"Probably." Lance said as he rubbed his chin. "Might need more but it's pretty easy to find."

"I have a safe house just outside of DC. We can resupply there."

"Perfect, oh yea and I have a little something for you." Lance stood up and walked out of the kitchen. He returned seconds later with a weapon that Reaver immediately recognized as a .308 sniper rifle. "Merry Christmas." He dropped the weapon on the table with a thud and slid it across to Reaver.

Reaver picked up the weapon in both hands and began examining it. "It's in good condition."

"Only the best for my new partner!" Lance chuckled and leaned on the table.

".308 calibre, twelve magnification scope. Where'd you find this?"

"Clenched in the hands of a dead brotherhood paladin, but that's irrelevant. Iv been carrying it for a while, dissembled in my bag. Like you I was unsure of my trust. But back in Russia..."

"What?" Reaver looked up from the weapon with a quizzical look.

"Oh of course. Back before the war my great, great, great grandparents came to America from Russia. It was another country across the ocean to the east, they were apparently wanted by the goverment or something."

"Oh..." He took a minute to digest the information. "It never occurred to me."

Lance shrugged. "Dont worry about it, my ascent has long since left me. I'm supprised that you even knew about Russia. Most wastlanders don't even know that there's anything outside of Washington. Valid I guess, you spend your entire life in one place never leaving to explore the outside, you forget that there even is an outside."

Suddenly a memory came to Reaver. He recoiled and with great effort dispelled the thought.

"Anyway," Lance said, "in Russia, at least before the war, it was customary that when new partnerships are established, you would exchange gifts as a sign of trust and friendship. And this is my gift to you." He motioned to the rifle that now rested on the table.

There was a pause. "What makes you so sure of my loyalty?"

Lance smiled. "A man seeking to betray me wouldn't have told me the location of his safe house, nor would he have shown me all the supplies he was carrying. And besides, I have a good feeling about you." Silence. After a moment Lance spoke, "anyway, if were gonna get to our destination before nightfall we should get going."

Lance turned to exit the room but Reaver spoke. "Wait." Lance turned and looked at Reaver. He reached into his duster and from one of his holsters emerged a .10 submachine gun. Reaver cracked a smile and through the weapon. Lance caught it by the grip and admired its various attachments, a silencer, a sight, and a folded stock.

"Had that for a while now, and it took a couple weeks to get all the attachments. But I guess since I'm gonna be sniping, you should have it." Reaver stood up and rested his rifle on his shoulder. "Now let's go to DC... Partner.

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Theres chapter four hope you liked it! submit a reveiw and give me your oppinion!


	5. Old Friends, New Enemy's

Good day, mannaged to get another chapter up and edited. Please rate and review.

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Reaver grabbed onto the door handle and twisted. With a creak it opened and as he pushed he turned to his partner who was following behind him. "Did you remember the-" A sudden clack, sound snapped him back to the now open door abruptly.

Standing but twelve feet from Reaver was a band of five regulators, each with some variant of assault rifle, excluding the one in the middle who Reaver presumed to be the leader. He carried two old style revolvers, one in each hand. Reaver turned to Lance, rage in his eyes. "You deceitful son of a bitch." Lances expression remained blank.

"Well!" Came a rough voice. "If it isn't the infamous Reaver!"

Reaver turned and looked into the eyes of the Regulators leader, the two pistols remained at his side. "I have little time for you games." Reaver said as his own pistol emerged. "I have a long trip planed."

"Heh, heh, heh." Laughed the Regulator as he turned to his men. They began the laugh as if on command. "I'm afraid the only trip your gonna be taking is across the river Styx." His pistols raised and trained on Reaver. There was a click as he pulled back the levers. He closed one eye as if about to shoot but another voice stopped him.

"You wouldn't shoot one of the Regulators closest allies would you?" It was Lance, he pushed passed Reaver and the regulators attention was diverted.

Several Regulators faces lit up as Lance came into view and they lowered their weapons, a sudden look from their leader however caused them to return to their aim. Turning back to Lance he spoke. "I can assure you... Lance. This animal is far from any kind of ally we could ever have." His voice was lined with frustration and familiarity. "Might I ask why you're with him at all? We sent you to cleanse him of his life. We assumed that you had fallen in your attempt." Suddenly his eyes widened before returning to a scowl, the pistols in his hands redirected from Reaver to Lance. "I can only think of one explanation for your disappearance."

Lance spoke in a calm tone. "Jacob,"

"Shut up traitor!" The regulator or, Jacob said. "You were always in it for the money! How much is he paying you!?"

"He's not paying me."

Jacob let out an angry laugh. "You really expect me to believe that? Whatever, you read the charter before you joined us, and now you know what I must do. I'd tell you I take no joy in this but..." there was a click as the weapons safety was disengaged. "The charter had something against lying to."

"Wait," He stopped to take a dramatic breath. "If I kill Reaver, will you spare me?"

Jacob lowered his pistol. "If you kill him than well take you back to the HQ. Let the others decide your fate."

There was a pause.

Lance sighed and turned over to Reaver. "There's something I forgot to tell you." His jacket opened and the submachine gun Reaver had given him became visible. "In Russia, we don't only speak of loyalty, we prove it." Suddenly the weapon emerged and a burst of lead flew from the barrel.

Reaver shut his eyes, expecting the piercing pain of the bullets, but he felt nothing but the cool morning wind. He opened his eyes and saw six bullet wounds not in him, but in the torso of Jacob. Shock and disbelief covered the regulators face and he fell face first into a growing pool of blood. The others just stared. The same look of shock on their faces. Suddenly they recovered from the shock and their weapons raised.

Reaver didn't wait for the assault rifles to go off, he retrieved his pistol and joined Lance as the two opened fire. Smoke filled the air as well as blood and screams in agony. Three bodies hit the ground and Reavers weapon clicked.

As the smoke began to clear, one silhouette stood, unarmed and trembling. His weapon lay on the ground beside him in two pieces, ripped apart by the gunfire. Reaver drew his knife and was at the regulators neck within a second, as he prepared to finish the trembling boy, a hand resting on his arm stopped him.

"Hold it Reaver, I'll take care of this." It was Lance, his smg was holstered.

After slight hesitation Reaver removed the knife and stepped back.

"I took little pleasure in doing that my friend." Lance looked down at the corpse of Jacob. "And that's the truth. But I swear to god I'll do it again if you don't abide by my strict instructions. Go back to the HQ, tell them that we're dead and the others died in the fight. You'll get your reward and more importantly you'll keep your life."

There was a pause as the regulator stuttered. Then he nodded.

"Good, now get out of here."

The regulator ran and disappeared around a corner, Lance turned to Reaver and after a long pause he smiled. "I told you Id get them off your back."

Eva's eyes shot open. Sweat running down her face she breathed heavily. She had just awoken from a nightmare, one of the worst she had ever had. She was tempted to sit up but was to terrified to move.

There had been hundreds of them. Each one crawling with a slimy trail behind it, cornering and killing everyone she had ever known. She had never feared the rad roaches before; at least no more than what was normal in the vault. But seeing them swarm that security guard, it just...

Eva shook away from her thoughts and closed her eyes again, this time trying to think of a positive memory. Her tenth birthday came to mind, back with Amata and Jonas, her dad to. Laughing and enjoying one another's company. She remembered the poem that Ms Armstrong had given her and the delicious spring role from Ms Palmer.

As she reminisced about this, she smiled. But then her contentment turned to sadness as a sudden realization beheld her. Nothing could ever be like that again. No birthday presents, no more spending time with close friends, just a constant battle for survival. Tears began trailing down her face. She closed her eyes again and tried to forget her life for a moment. She needed sleep. Slowly she drifted off into a restless slumber.

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There you go, chapter five. Good to see people are liking it, post a review if you have a question or something. Or just post a review with your opinion. Yea I know the parts with Eva are short, gimme a break though, this one little part is difficult to write, I promise they will be longer soon. But seriously post a review, I really would like some opinions. Fav it to.


	6. A Routine Checkup

_Holy shit that was like pulling my own teeth. sorry it took a while. Writers block is a bitch. but its here enjoy._

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Eva was awoken by what sounded like an engine, revving, shaking, and screeching. It howled in the morning wind. Eva stood up and quickly began jogging towards the source of the sound. Where there are engines, there are people, and where there are people, there is safety and quite possibly information on her father.

Eva soon found herself at the base of a giant wall of rusted steel. It was built in a circle, slightly resembling the castles in the stories she had read in her childhood.

"Must be a town of some kind." She muttered through a smile.

Suddenly there was a bang and dirt flew up from beside her. She ducked down and drew her pistol as she darted her head around for the cause.

"What do you want missy?" Came a voice.

Eva looked up and found a man atop the towns steel walls. A hunting rifle clenched in his hands trained on Eva, he pulled back the bolt and awaited a response.

"It's ok," Eva said as she raised her hands. "I don't want to hurt anyone. I just-"

"Then why do you have that gun?" The man snapped, motioning his rifle to the girl's side.

Eva looked to her right hand and remembered the pistol. She dropped it and it landed with a clack. "Look, my name is Eva, I'm looking for my father and I figure he might have come through here. you see I'm from the vault-"

"You're from a vault?" The man's eyes widened and the rifle lowered to his side.

"Yea, born and raised." She smiled and pointed to the bold 101 on her jumpsuit.

"Well shit," the man shrugged. "I'm sorry, I'm just on the lookout for raiders is all."

Eva lowered her arms. "Sorry? Raiders?"

"You've never seen a raider?, I guess that's good then." The man slung the rifle over his shoulder. "Look, raiders are deranged psychotics who kill rape and torture for little reason more than for the hell of it. They wear clothing often with spikes on it, sometimes thell hang the severed hands of there victims from there belts. There completely merciless and there armed with anything from a baseball bat to a flamer." as he spoke he leaned over the railing. "If you see these guys, you dont fight, you dont negotiate, you fucking run."

Eva was a a loss for words. "That cant be. There must be some reason for what there doing."

"Believe it, and that's just to a normal wastlander. A clean, pretty girl like you? Those lunatics would probably rape you to death, cut off all your limbs, and eat your flesh. and if your really lucky," there was a pause, as if for effect. "If your really lucky, thell do it in that order."

There was a silence as Eva digested the information.

Before Eva could respond another voice entered the conversation. "Dont mind Stolkhome up there little lady, hes just a little paranoid is all."

Eva looked down from the man atop the wall and found another man standing by the gates of the town.

"The names Simms, I'm sharrif of this town, mayor too when the need arises." He stopped abruptly, waiting for the girls response.

Eva smiled in the opportunity to divert from Stockholm. "Im Eva, its a pleasure to meet you sheriff."

"Polite and well mannered! I think well get along just fine. So what's your business in my town?"

"Im looking for my father, I thought he might have come through here."

"I see." Simms scratched his beard before continuing. "I think I might of seen him."

Eva's eyes lit up. "Really? Are you sure it was him?"

"Unless he was another guy in a 101 jumpsuit." The sherrif responded in a condescending tone.

"Thats great! Is he still here?"

"Fraid not, saw him leave not long ago, I dont know where hes going but I know he stopped at the saloon while he was in town, you should talk to Moriarty, he'll know where hes headed."

"Moriarty?"

"He ownes the saloon."

"Thanks Simms." Eva said as she began to walk towards the gates.

Suddenly she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder and found herself stairing into Simms eyes. "Just keep in mind miss, dont cause any trouble in my town or I'll fucking end you. Got it?"

Eva bit her lip and nodded. Simms let her go and she pushed open the gate.

* * *

"Im tellin you doc, Im fine."

The doctor stopped his work on the man's wound and covered his face in a frustrated scowl. "Jericho, you crawled into town with a bullet lodged in your skull-"

"Limped, not crawled."

"Whatever, the fact is you had lost a lot of blood and could suffer from a major concussion, now hold still." The doc retrieved a pair of forceps from the tray beside him and positioned them around the .9 round burrowed in his patient's skull. "Try not to move." The doctor pulled and after three seconds of resistance the bullet tore from the bone. The doc flew back and almost lost his balance. Repositioning himself he spoke to his patient. "So you wanna tell me how this happened?"

"No." Jericho snapped sharply. It was enough that he had to visit this prick for a band aid. He didn't need people knowing that he fell for a deceptive regulators trick. "Are we done?"

"Hold on," The doctor put down the forceps and retrieved a casting iron.

"You have got to be kidding."

"Fraid not buddy." with those words he pushed the iron against the man's wound and held it until a searing sound filled the air. Jericho held back a yelp and instead grunted as he smelled his own burning flesh.

After a few seconds the iron was removed and the wound was closed. "Good as new, now you have a reason be such a dumbass. You know with the potential brain damage and all."

"You're hilarious." Jericho said sarcastically. "Now get out of my face." Jericho pushed away the doctor, stood from the stool and began walking to the door.

The doctor followed and stopped his patient short of the door. "Oi Jericho what about your fee?"

Jericho turned and let out an evil smile. "What about it?" With those words the man pushed open the clinic's steel door and stepped out into the evening light.

Allowing the door to close behind him, Jericho proceeded to the ramp leading up to Moriarty's. His head hurt like hell, so he figured a few shots of whiskey would help. But first he needed to change out of his combat armour. He had received a few fearful looks from the townsfolk as they saw the talon company logo, and the extra attention was in no way appealing to the man at this time. Finding his small shack he entered and shut the steel door.

* * *

_There it is, hope you liked it. leave a review._


	7. A guardian angel

Blimey that was difficult. how long has it been like a month? whatever heres the next chapter. read review ect

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Twenty minutes and three syringes of medex later, Jericho was on his way to the saloon. covering his body was his old leather armor covered with various pouches containing ammo and grenades., on his back replacing the combat shotgun was a Chinese assault rifle.

He had never liked the combat shotgun, he had only taken it on his last job because it was an overall intimidating weapon. But within megaton, any gun will be just as intimidating as the next, the folks were so alienated from the rest of the wasteland and its horrors that even the pussy ass .10 pistols Jericho saw on the belts of the occasional travelers inflicted nervous looks on the town.

Needless to say Jericho was a man that enjoyed being feared.

After another five minutes Jericho was at the saloon. Pushing open the door he pondered what liqour he would use to wash away his pain.

"Um, excuse me." Eva said to the bartender, barley holding back a gag as she looked at his torn and rotted flesh.

The bartender didn't respond, instead mumbling and continuing to bang on the radio at the corner of the bar as it produced static.

"Excuse me?"

Still nothing. The bartender was then approached by an orange haired woman who patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, Gob honey?"

Gob almost instantly shot up and turned around at the soft feminine voice of the woman. "Yea Nova?"

Nova only responded by pointing towards Eva.

Gob looked over at Eva his disfigured face reveled all to clearly. "Eh? oh sorry, what can I get ya smoothskin?"

"Err, I'm looking for Moriarty, have you seen him?" Eva looked away from the man. the rotted skin was just to much.

"Moriarty? Sorry he doesn't want people bothering him on his break."

"Oh." Eva responded as she tried again to make eye contact with the bartender. "How long till he's done?"

"Not sure, to be perfectly honest he doesn't do much work around here, he could be on break another half hour or more."

"oh, well-"

Suddenly Eva was broken from her conversation by the sound of tin dropping onto the counter. She looked to her side where a large armored man was sitting on the next barstool. ten bottle caps rested on the counter infront of him.

"The usual Jericho?" asked Gob as if his conversation with Eva had never been.

"Yea, and be quick about it I got a god awful headache."

Gob nodded before grabbing the caps on the table and retrieving a bottle of whiskey from under the counter.

As the bottle was placed in front of Jericho, he noticed the young girl seated beside him. "You got a name, love?" He took a swig from the whiskey and awaited a response.

"Eva." She responded politely. Most woman would have been uncomfortable seated next to such a a man, but Eva was just glad to talk to someone who at least came off as friendly.

"Well, I'm Jericho, its great to meet ya, you new in town?" He asked as his gaze wandered across the young woman's body.

"yes, just passing through." She said through a light smile.

Jericho nodded as he examined Eva. He wanted her, everything from her clean black hair to her almost perfect body. He was nothing short of amazed with the amount of cleanliness of this woman. "Where you headed?" Jericho asked as he pulled his eyes away from to girls body back to her face as he didn't want to scare her off.

"Im not sure," Eva responded. She hadn't intact noticed that the man had been checking her out. "I'm looking for my father, apparently Moriarty has some information that can help me."

Another nod came from Jericho and he took another swig. "And let me guess, the slacking peice of crap is on another break and Gob wont help you?"

Eva chuckled lightly. "Well I don't know if I would put it like that but, ya pretty much."

It was then that Jericho figured out that this woman wasn't just gonna give herself to him at the cost of a couple capps and some macho bullshit like Nova or Silver. This one was different, this one was gonna require a little effort. Jericho smiled. "Well, I happen to know for a fact that Moriarty takes his breaks just outside. What do you say we go deal with that."

Eva's eyes lit up and she smiled. "Really?"

"Sure thing. Always up for helping out a young lady like yourself."

"Well thank you, its good to finally meet a nice person out here."

There was a slight pause. "Right, right." Jericho responded through a smile as the two stood from there seats. "Lets go see if our friend Moriarty has any useful information."

Jericho opened the steel door of the saloon and found Moriarty leaning over the railing. observing his town as always. "OI Moriarty." Jericho said as he held the door for Eva.

Moriarty turned from his observations and covered his face with a smug smile. "Well ello there Jericho. As much as I enjoy the company of washed up raiders, I would prefure not to be bothered on my breaks." as he finished he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Its not a break if you don't actualy do any work before hand." Jericho responded in an intimidating tone.

"Ey," Moriarty raised his free hand and pointed at Jericho. "I don't tell you how to do your job, don't tell me how to do mine. Now what's so important that you need to bother me?"

Jericho put his hand on Eva's shoulder. "Eva here is looking for her father. Apparently you have some information she needs.

"Yea," Eva said "He's middle aged, wearing a vault 101 jumpsuit like me..."

Moriarty smiled and put out his cigarette. "Oh, yea I think I saw your father, passed through not long ago."

"Here it comes." Jericho muttered.

"Yea I did see him. Question is lass," He paused for a moment and rubbed his middle and index fingers against his thumb. "How many capps you got on ya?"

Eva stammered. "um, er"

"Let me handle this." said Jericho as he pushed passed Eva. "Moriarty, I am not gonna let her pay a cheap corrupt asshole like you for information, start talking."

The Irishman laughed. "Or what you gonna talk in your macho bullshit tone again?"

"No." Jericho grabbed the man by the neck and leaned him over the railing. "If you don't start talking I'm gonna throw you off this ledge and feed your corpse to the bramin."

Moriarty looked down and dreaded the lengths of rebar sticking out of the ground under him.

Jericho was about to push the man slightly farther in an attempt to get his point across, but a hand on his shoulder and a worried look from Eva stopped him.

Jericho let out a curse and reluctantly pulled Moriarty back off the railing onto the floor. "Now tell the girl what she wants to know."

Moriarty let out a few strained coughs. "Your a lot of things Jericho, a natural born people person is not one of em."

Jericho would have kicked him in the head had the circumstances been different. "I will not ask nicely again." he paused for a moment and put his hand on the grip of a .32 pistol at his side.

"Alright, alright." Moriarty stood to his feat and dusted himself off, before diverting his attention to Eva. "your father went east, said something about GNR and a guy named three dog." He looked back at Jericho. "Happy?"

"Yea, thank you for the help. Now go back inside you worthless peice of shit." Jericho responded.

Moriarty reluctantly walked back into his saloon, muttering negative comments about Jericho all the way.

As the man dissapered through the door Jericho turned to Eva. "Sorry you had to see that."

"Its alright," she responded hesitantly. Despite the mans violent behavior and intimidating presence, Eva couldn't help but be intrigued by this man. Why she did not know for sure, maybe she was subconsciously attracted to him, she had hallway's favored the 'bad boys' so to speak. "Anyway, thanks for your help, I've better get going if I'm gonna catch up with my dad." Eva began to turn but stopped halfway as she remembered Stockholm's words as he spoke about the raiders.  
_  
"A clean, pretty girl like you? Those lunatics would probably rape you to death, cut off all your limbs, and eat your flesh."_

"Hey um, Jericho?" She said

"Yes?" He responded, holding back a smirk. He knew what she was thinking.

"Look, I'm not very experienced out here. I mean, I don't even know what or where GNR is. if I'm gonna get there in one piece Im gonna need someone with experience to help me."

"I see." Jericho said as a smile spread across his face. "So you want me to go with you?"

"Well, yea, I mean, I don't have anything to offer you but."

"Hey relax. I was planning on heading over to rivet city later anyway. I don't mind helping you out."

"Really?" She said excitedly.

"Really. But first I would recommend you get a room here at Moriarty's for the night. Your gonna need a nights sleep before heading out tomorrow."

Jericho led the woman inside and bought her a room. He would get this woman, and if that meant dropping some time and money, then so be it.

* * *

"Well," Lance remarked as he bent down to observe the bullet ridden corpse of Jakob. "I did not notice during our little standoff but you have a really nice hat." as he said this, Lance pulled the old west style hat from the corpses head and placed it on his own. "What do you think?" He said as he turned to his partner.

"I think your batshit insane." Responded Reaver as he looked up from his own looting.

"For what?" Laughed Lance as he removed and examined the hat again.

Reaver rolled his eyes and returned to his task. "Your talking to a corpse for one."

Lance chuckled and put on the hat. "Oh lighten up."

Reaver mumbled something under his breath and stood up. Whatever. So apart from that hat, did you find anything over there?" He asked.

"No, fraid not." Lance said as he looked at a piece of paper in his hand. "All he's got is our extermination form."

"Well that's not much good to us."

"Guess not. Anyway, lets go. I would prefer not to be out here when tha yao gaui show up."

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there finaly some stuff with Eva in it. thanks for reading leave a reveiw!


	8. Authors note

Ok at the request of just about everyone who reviewed Im gonna go back, Eddit, and re upload all the chapters. This also means that it might take a while longer for the next chapter to come out so be patient.

I would also like to take this time to point a few things out about the story.

1. Yes this is the Jericho from the game not my own character. I had origionaly just used that name but eventualy I just decided to roll with it.

2. Lance and Reaver are new characters. I am not basing them off of anyone.

3. Eva is the lone wanderer from the game.

Also I would like to get the oppinons of my readers on something. should I stay loyal to the original weapons in the game or add afew from real life? I have been considering this for a while and am torn at this point.

Please post your opinions in the reviews.

Mike


	9. the conclusion for now

you know something guys. Ive been putting off this story for a while now. and now that I look at it, I realize. I can do alot better than this.

all my efforts have been shifted towards another story, an oblivion fan fic. its on my profile, please read and reveiw.


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